The Columbus Blue Jackets went to Ottawa hoping to find a way to erase what happened to them on Saturday night in Toronto. Despite their best efforts, they were shutout for the second time in the span of less than 24 hours.
Linus Ullmark stopped all 30 shots he faced. Thomas Chabot had a pair of helpers while four different players scored goals to lead the Senators to a 4-0 win over the Blue Jackets. Suddenly, the Atlantic Division is a race.
The story of this game for the Blue Jackets was finding themselves in an all too familiar spot early in the game. They were trailing less than three minutes into the game.
Game Recap
If the Blue Jackets were going to salvage a split on the weekend, their goaltender was going to have to be the reason. But just 2:24 into the game, Adam Gaudette beat Daniil Tarasov to get the Senators off and running.
Given how the Blue Jackets have fared of late, even being down 1-0 felt like a huge mountain to climb. Then less than two minutes later, it was 2-0 thanks to a goal by Nikolas Matinpalo.
Dean Evason decided to pull Tarasov as to that point in the game, shots were 6-0 Senators. This felt like more of a wake up the team goalie pull than anything else. Elvis Merzlikins came into the game and to his credit, kept the game at 2-0 for a while giving his team a chance to get back into the game.
That never materialized however. The Blue Jackets had a couple of small stretches in the game where they had some pushes. But Ullmark was there to answer them all. Until the very last push with Merzlikins pulled, Ullmark’s life wasn’t made all that difficult. The Blue Jackets rarely got second or third chances to score.
The Blue Jackets did have to kill a slew of penalties in the second period in which they did. That for a moment gave them some life to try to get back into the game. They themselves weren’t given any power-play chances in the game despite some missed calls, most notably a high-stick on Yegor Chinakhov that cut him in the face.
David Perron extended the Senators lead to 3-0 less than five minutes into the third. It stayed that way until Shane Pinto hit the empty net from his own zone to get to the final score of 4-0.
With the win, the Senators now sit only two points back of the Florida Panthers for third in the Atlantic pending the outcome of their game against the Detroit Red Wings. They are well positioned to return to the playoffs.
For the Blue Jackets, while they’re still mathematically alive, they’re left to wonder what changed after the Stadium Series. They’ve gone 4-9-1 since March 6 going from the first wildcard to now having the 10th worst record in the NHL.
Merzlikins stopped 22 of 23 in relief of Tarasov one night after allowing five in Toronto. Every Senators skater finished as a plus player on the game.
The Blue Jackets and Senators will play again on Tuesday night, this time at Nationwide Arena for the Senators only trip to Columbus on the season.